Procurement

As part of the University’s commitment to developing its organisational resilience, and to mitigating the loss of goods and services that support its critical academic, research, and support functions, it will incorporate measures into its procurement processes and procedures to evaluate the effectiveness of its critical suppliers’ business continuity arrangements.

At a local level

The University of Galway Procurement Policy 2023 pledges to ‘incorporate the use of Green Procurement practices in our processes and procedures, in an effort to reduce our environmental impact in conjunction with CUSP’.‌

Clause 15 of the University of Galway's Procurement Policy relates to sustainability. The University is committed to working with the relevant Government agencies to develop green procurement criteria that will be used where relevant when tendering for goods, services and works. 

In incorporating sustainable and social considerations into tenders, Units seek to ensure that:

• the sustainable and social consideration does not result in discrimination,
• sustainable and social considerations are linked to the subject matter of the contract,
• value for money is maintained to ensure sustainable delivery of services,
• the objective of the sustainable and social consideration is proportionate to the contract,
• the targeted benefit is capable of being measured and monitored during the execution of the contract (the necessary staffing, arrangements and resources should be allocated to this task having regard to the principle of proportionality), and
• the clauses do not negatively impact on the SME sector

The University of Galway Sustainable Public Procurement Handbook provides guidance on ways to reduce environmental impact, promote economic development, and support social responsibility when purchasing goods and services.  

We recognise that Sustainable Public Procurment requires changes to the entire procurement cycle: from budgeting and planning to tendering and managing
contracts and the need to clearly communicate our expectations to bidders and contractors.

At a national level

Green Procurement in Policy:

The Climate Action Plan 2023 requires every public body to have a climate mandate, a key element of that is using public procurement to deliver change.

Circular 20/2019, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, promotes the use of environmental and social considerations in public procurement and provides Government Departments with information and instructions for including green criteria across all their procurement processes.  

The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy contains a series of measures to expand and strengthen the usage of Green Public Precurement in Ireland.

Green Procurement Guidance

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published Guidance on Green Procurement; a practical resource tool, designed to assist procurers to build green criteria into public tenders. It covers eight sectors: Road transport vehicles and services, energy, construction, food and catering services, cleaning products and services, textiles and uniforms, office IT equipment and paper